New Research Done On Stock Option Backdating

Companies that lacked a majority of independent board members and that had long-serving chief executives were more likely to award questionably timed stock options to senior executives, according to a study to be released today. The research, by a trio of business professors, suggests that recent stock-option abuses have their roots in broader corporate governance problems -- and not only at technology companies that have been a focus of a widening scandal over the backdating of option grants. Problems with stock options awards came to light with a 2005 report by the University of Iowa's ERIK LIE, who last summer published new research that said more than 2,000 companies had employed backdated stock options.